Motoblag's '71 Duster
Copy/paste from another forum:
Still haven't finished the rough alignment on the Duster. Did knock down some more rust and hit with paint, though. You can see one spot where I'll need to do a little welding repair where the fender mounting clip pops in. The tiny tab of metal came off when I wrestled off the clip.
Got the camber and caster set on the front end. Did the passenger's side toe-in but got stuck on the driver's side. Can't get the tie rod to adjust enough. Won't pull any more of the threads in, despite having 1/2" of thread showing on the tie rod ends on both sides. Going to call up the vendor tomorrow and see if I can get a hint. It's probably going to come off the car to pull the tie rod ends off and inspect the sleeve. Frantic Googling tells me either the threads are rusted up, which sounds unlikely on a new part that's been slathered with antiseize from the manufacturer, or I'm just out of threads, or something else.
The locking nut on the inboard tie rod is also hard to turn. All other locking nuts spin freely by hand, but not that one. Threads look and feel okay though, nothing obviously chowdered up.
Eh, pictures.
Tie rod in question:
Took the tie rod off the driver's side. Confirmed the tie rod ends were bottoming out in the sleeve. Fixed it:
Found the chowdered up threads:
After reinstallation, toe-in is set to 1/16" toe-in on both sides. Front end is now aligned good enough.
On to the gas tank:
Corner got hit by something:
Evap system hoses are mangled and dry rotted:
New fuel tank and associated hardware are on the way. Gotta figure out how to clean my filler neck as the bottom end of it is very corroded. Also need to track down a new fuel filler cap, the gasket on my old one is rotted through.
Also figured out what the threading is on my Centerline wheel lug nuts, need to take a few more measurements then get a couple shiny new ones from Summit.
Copy/paste from another forum:
Still haven't finished the rough alignment on the Duster. Did knock down some more rust and hit with paint, though. You can see one spot where I'll need to do a little welding repair where the fender mounting clip pops in. The tiny tab of metal came off when I wrestled off the clip.
Got the camber and caster set on the front end. Did the passenger's side toe-in but got stuck on the driver's side. Can't get the tie rod to adjust enough. Won't pull any more of the threads in, despite having 1/2" of thread showing on the tie rod ends on both sides. Going to call up the vendor tomorrow and see if I can get a hint. It's probably going to come off the car to pull the tie rod ends off and inspect the sleeve. Frantic Googling tells me either the threads are rusted up, which sounds unlikely on a new part that's been slathered with antiseize from the manufacturer, or I'm just out of threads, or something else.
The locking nut on the inboard tie rod is also hard to turn. All other locking nuts spin freely by hand, but not that one. Threads look and feel okay though, nothing obviously chowdered up.
Eh, pictures.
Tie rod in question:
Took the tie rod off the driver's side. Confirmed the tie rod ends were bottoming out in the sleeve. Fixed it:
Found the chowdered up threads:
After reinstallation, toe-in is set to 1/16" toe-in on both sides. Front end is now aligned good enough.
On to the gas tank:
Corner got hit by something:
Evap system hoses are mangled and dry rotted:
New fuel tank and associated hardware are on the way. Gotta figure out how to clean my filler neck as the bottom end of it is very corroded. Also need to track down a new fuel filler cap, the gasket on my old one is rotted through.
Also figured out what the threading is on my Centerline wheel lug nuts, need to take a few more measurements then get a couple shiny new ones from Summit.
